Mary's Tears
by Awesome Rapidash
Summary: Mary loves to read as we all know, but what happens when she finds herself emotionally affected by a story? Worse, what if someone caught her crying?


A/N: Mary loves to read as we all know, but what happens when she finds herself emotionally affected by a story? Worse, what if someone caught her crying?

_This story is dedicated to Peach the Hedgehog. Happy Birthday Peachy! _

_**Mary's Tears**_

As the sun rose into the morning sky over the small coastal community known locally as Mineral Town, its residents began to go about their morning routines. This included the town's young librarian, who after finishing her breakfast and saying good bye to her mother, exited her family's home and waked the short distance to her favorite place in town… the library.

A smile filled the raven haired girl's face as she unlocked the door and stepped into the quiet darkness of the building. After turning on the lights and opening the window blinds, she walked quietly over to her desk and sat down. Her expression changed from the cheerful smile to a frown as she gazed down at the blank pieces of paper strewn about her desktop. The empty pages normally were supposed to contain the words of her novel, yet as hard as she tried, the words just didn't seem to flow. And that frustrated the poor girl to no end!

A sigh escaped her as she stood and adjusted her glasses. _"Perhaps if I read a story it will help me to get back to my writing,"_ she mused silently to herself. And with that thought in mind she stepped around her chair and pushed it back into its place under her desk. She then walked over to the neatly organized shelves of books. After a short search revealed nothing of interest she walked into the small and brightly painted children's section. She stopping in front of a small stack of children's books that had been left out the last time Stu and May had visited. Mary began to return the books to their proper locations when two of them captured her interest.

She bent down and picked the first book and examined the cover. It was a sweet story about butterfly and a caterpillar. Mary placed the book onto the shelf and reached down to pick up the next. The colorful cover quickly caught the librarian's eye and she took a step back, opening the book's cover and beginning to read the words printed on the page.

After a moment she stopped reading and walked over to a chair near the far end of the library. The soft comfy chair was near a window and the lighting was perfect for reading! It was in fact, Mary's favorite spot to curl up, losing herself in a story. After getting comfortable on the soft cushiony chair, she returned her attention to reading the story. As she continued to read, her imagination was instantly filled with the events unfolding on the pages before her.

As she neared the end of the story and read how the story's main character, a young love struck mermaid who was unwilling to kill the human she loved… even if that meant that she would turn to sea foam, tears began to well in her dark brown eyes.

She was so absorbed in the story that she didn't hear the door to the library open and close.

Jack looked over at the neatly organized desk where he normally would find the bi-speckled librarian. To his surprise, the desk was vacant. The farmer looked around curiously, wondering if the raven haired girl was somewhere else in the library. At that moment he heard what he thought was someone crying; concerned he headed in the direction to see if perhaps someone was in need of help. What he found surprised him!

"M… Mary? Are you alright? Why are you crying?"

The petite librarian gasped in surprise at the farmer's words quickly standing up, dropping the book to the floor in the process. "No…. n… nothing is wrong, Jack." A blush filled the girl's powdery white cheeks as she realized that she'd been caught crying over a story in a book.

"But you were crying?" he questioned. ""Does it have something to do with this?" he asked, reaching down and picking the book up from the light blue carpeting that covered the library floor.

Mary's blush deepened. "Yes… I was so into the story… a mermaid who would sacrifice her life for love…" The librarian averted her dark brown eyes away from the farmer. "You must think I'm a silly little girl, crying over a story like that."

Jack smiled. "No I don't Mary. In fact, I think it's sweet."

"D… do you really mean that? You don't think I'm overreacting or being silly?"

The farmer shook his head and looked down at the book in his hands. "You want to know a secret?"

The young librarian gave the brown haired farmer a curious look. "A secret? What sort of a secret?"

"It's a secret about me," Jack began, handing the book back to Mary. "When I read this story… the ending… when the young mermaid turned to sea foam… made me cry as well."

A look of surprise filled the raven haired girl's face. She couldn't believe that a guy could get emotional over simple words written on the pages of a book. "You really cried? Wow… I wouldn't have expected that."

"Why not? Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean that I can't cry."

Mary nodded. "That's not what I meant Jack. I was just well… surprised that's all."

The farmer smiled back reassuringly. "Don't worry Mary; your secret… is safe with me!"

Mary's cheeks turned a deep crimson hue. "T…thank you Jack. And just as you will keep my secret, I'll keep yours."

"I know you will Mary, that's why I told you."


End file.
